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NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- The bright lights and hundreds of audience members at the Scripps National Spelling Bee didn’t faze Vermont’s top speller, Ronan Howlett.

The seventh-grader at Middlebury Union Middle School breezed through the spelling of “comandante” and “rendezvous” during Wednesday’s oral rounds.

“I was hoping I wouldn’t get an impossible word,” said Ronan, 13, of Cornwall, after the first oral round. “None of the words they had were really difficult.”

But Ronan said he missed some words on the written test he took on Tuesday. His combined score for the two days kept him from advancing to the semifinals.

Ronan, who was sponsored this year by the Burlington Free Press, said he’ll try again next year.

This year’s spelling champion will claim $30,000, a $5,000 scholarship and other prizes. ESPN will broadcast the finals on Thursday from 8 p.m.-10 p.m.

All of this year’s 278 spellers advanced to the national bee by winning a series of spelling bees in their states. Ronan beat 33 competitors in March at the state bee, including Meigan Clark, who was last year’s state winner and Ronan’s classmate.

This was Ronan’s first appearance at the national bee. He asked for the definition of “comandante,” just to be sure he didn’t misunderstand the pronunciation, but he quickly spelled “rendezvous” without a question.

Despite his calm demeanor, he said he was nervous on stage. It wasn’t really fun, he said, but it wasn’t horrible, either.

Ronan likes to spend his free time hiking or helping out his parents. He runs track and field and cross-country, his favorite sports.

His best subjects in school are math and science. He participates in MATHCOUNTS, a national club and competition program promoting mathematics achievement, and won this year’s regional championship.

Ronan spent his time in the Washington area doing spelling bee activities and visiting some of the Smithsonian museums. He said there’s plenty to do in Washington, but he prefers different scenery.